Are Evangelicals Dragging America Down? Oh Yes

Fascism Comes To America by Nancy Ohanian

I was born in Brooklyn. I lived in New York City and it's suburbs until I was around 20 and after that lived in Afghanistan and Holland, then San Francisco and Los Angeles. I had never met an evangelical pastor in my life-- until the last few years when I was already in my 60s. And then I met a whole bunch at once-- in a room where everyone but Ted Lieu and I were the only non-evangelicals and the only non-pastors. That was the beginning of Vote Common Good, a group of evangelical ministers eager to persuade evangelical voters that they can break free of their Stockholm Syndrome and throw off the chains of Trumpism... by voting for Democrats. In 2018, they helped elect a slew of new members of Congress-- Orange County's Katie Porter was a standout-- and helped get the ball rolling for a number of others who they hope to finish the job with this year-- like Mike Siegel in Texas, Kara Eastman in Nebraska and J.D. Scholten in Iowa.

And it was through Vote Common Good that I can to know the work of a remarkable minister, John Pavlovitz, whose blog has become regular fare for me. This week, he wrote about how the white evangelical church has failed us all-- "fully, grievously, irreparably."

• If not for them, his vile video confession of assault is a deal breaker.
• If not for them, he isn’t elected.
• If not for them, he isn’t declared a Christian.

• If not for them, there are no stomach-turning photo ops of sycophants laying hands on him.

• If not for them, thousands of kids aren’t separated from their families and treated like animals.

• If not for them, sick people aren’t creating gofundme pages to stay alive.
• If not for them, white men marching with torches aren’t called “fine people.”

• If not for them, our elections aren’t polluted by murderous dictators.
• If not for them, his unhinged, racist vanity rallies are deservedly empty.
• If not for them, Puerto Rico doesn’t have to repeatedly beg for aid.
• If not for them, climate change isn’t ridiculed and disregarded.
• If not for them, gun victims get more than #thoughtsandprayers platitudes.

• If not for them, bigots aren’t emboldened to proudly parade hatred in the light of day.
• If not for them, sexual assault survivors aren’t belittled and traumatized anew.

• If not for them, all of his lies are named and condemned.
• If not for them, he is held accountable for his crimes and his immorality.
• If not for them, this planet is safer, more compassionate, and more just.

Liberty Revisited by Nancy Ohanian

"The irony in place," wrote Pavolvitz, "is that despite all their sanctimonious sermonizing and finger-wagging condemnation and sky-is-falling histrionics, the white Evangelical Church has enabled, nurtured, and championed more inequity and more misery in these days than any other entity-- and there is no close second. For the disparate masses of the world, the Church has become a barrier to belonging, a sanctuary for supremacy, and a hostile presence for the least of these. By its marriage to a politics of exclusion, the white Evangelical Church has failed the poor, women, people of color, gender fluid human beings, non-heteronormative people. It’s failed immigrants and refugees and foreigners; vulnerable and marginalized communities; non-religious and non-Christians. It has failed everyone outside the tiny gated community of the white and the wealthy."

Hymn For The 81 Percent

I grew up in your churches
Sunday morning, evening service
Knelt in tears at the foot of the rugged cross
You taught me every life is sacred
feed the hungry, clothe the naked
I learned from you the highest law is Love

I believed you when you said
that I should trust the words in red
To guide my steps through a wicked world
I assumed you’d do the same
so imagine my dismay
When I watched you lead the sheep to the wolves

You said to love the lost
So I’m loving you now
You said to speak the truth
So I’m calling you out
Why don’t you live the words
That you put in my mouth
May love overcome and justice roll down

They started putting kids in cages
Ripping mothers from their babies
And I looked to you to speak on their behalf
But all I heard was silence
Or worse you justify it
Singing glory hallelujah raise the flag

Your fear had turned to hatred
But you baptized it with language
torn from the pages of the good book
You weaponized religion
And you wonder why I’m leaving
To find Jesus on the wrong side of your walls

And Pavlovitz named it: a tragedy. The white evangelical church has failed Jesus-- misappropriating his likeness, hijacking his name, and weaponizing his message into something grotesque and oppressive-- and it is rightfully repelling good people."

The world is noticing too. US News reported at the end of last week that our country has suffered the greatest global decline in trust in their annual Best Countries Report. Trust in America since Trump occupied the White House has cascaded-- down 50%. Of the 73 countries assessed, the U.S. is now #24 with a score of 16.3 out of 100! The U.S. and U.K., each of which elected a fascist-leaning government has dropped the most since 2016, from 34 points to 16 points for Trump's America and from 78 to 65 points for Britain.

“Trustworthiness” is one of 65 metrics that survey participants were asked how closely they associate that attribute with a nation. Canada [#1] was followed closely by Switzerland and Norway. Finishing last this year is Kenya, which drew a score of 0. The African country was just below Eastern European nations Serbia and Belarus.

...The president’s own actions on the world stage also may be shaping global public opinion. Early in 2019, reports emerged that Trump discussed withdrawing the U.S. from NATO. Later in the year he abruptly announced a U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria, a move that left Kurdish allies in the fight against terrorists in that country feeling abandoned. Trump last year also instigated more trade wars with countries and freely criticized various world leaders.

Those foreign policy moves only reinforced new global worries over U.S. foreign policy after Trump ordered the Jan. 3 killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani by a drone strike in Baghdad, a move that immediately drew criticism from U.S. opponents and concern from America’s allies. The reaction in the Middle East was immediate. Iraq’s Parliament called for the expulsion of all U.S. forces from the country and Iran, vowing to retaliate against the U.S., said it would abandon the 2015 nuclear deal.

The past year has witnessed a growing global pushback against Trump. Former Irish president Mary Robinson chastised Trump for showing poor global leadership. And 2019 closed with leaders of U.S. allies appearing to joke about the U.S. president at a NATO summit.

"His (Trump's) behavior has raised many eyebrows," says Karel Lannoo, CEO of the Centre for European Policy Studies, a nonpartisan think tank based in Brussels.

Statements by Trump had raised concern in Japan and South Korea, America's closest allies in East Asia. But it is clear now that Washington will remain highly engaged in the region, says Zhang Baohui, professor of political science and director of the Centre for Asian-Pacific Studies at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. "They understand that the new China policy of the U.S. should imply that Washington will not vacate the region," Zhang said in an email.

The world's 10 most trusted countries:

• Canada
• Switzerland
• Norway
• Sweden
• Denmark
• New Zealand
• Finland
• Australia
• Netherlands
• Germany

Trump promised his moron followers that the U.S. would be respected around the world. He still claims to this day that that's the case. Can white evangelical churches be blamed for the U.S. failing in the eyes of the rest of the world? Absolutely-- 100%.